By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The Executive Chairman of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AIRS), Mr. Ikeazor Okonkwo, has said that non-compliance with tax payment is a cultural problem that he is working with his team to upturn.
Mr. Ikeazor, who was appointed as the AIRS Chairman by the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a few months ago, is charged with meeting the Solution Agenda on overcoming Anambra’s “fiscal constraints.” Governor Soludo had identified IGR as Anambra’s fifth challenge that needed to be addressed so that “the State can make the required investment for the future.” What this entails is that without improved IGR, Anambra’s aspirations remain hard to reach. Speaking convincingly to these issues, Ikeazor said that Anambra has a problem of IGR-to-GDP ratio, which points to a serious gap in tax compliance.
With about 7.9 million people in Anambra State according to the National Population Commission (NPC), and about 2.7 million NIN registrations, Anambra has only about 400 thousand individuals with tax IDs, out of which only about 50 thousand have used the tax ID to pay their taxes. Looking at these numbers, Ikeazor said that non-compliance with tax payment in Anambra State is “a cultural thing”; however, “we are trying to change the culture. Many of our people have never paid tax before. We have to push for that cultural change. We are building the trust deficit,” the Chairman remarked.
Speaking of efforts the AIRS is making to meet the government’s mandate of easing the fiscal constraints, the Chairman said he is more interested in personal income tax. “My major focus is personal income tax.” In Anambra State, keke operators pay the sum of ₦96 thousand annually, while businessmen and women in markets pay ₦35 thousand storage levy a year. This situation, by every assessment, is a misnomer that the Chairman said he intends to address by getting Anambra businessmen and women to pay their personal income tax, which he said has been made easy to achieve with the new tax law.
The time for filing mandatory tax assessment has elapsed; however, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has approved a two-month extension window that will elapse on 5th September, 2026. This extension is captured under the Voluntary Assets Income Declaration and Tax Regularization Scheme (VAIDS), in which defaulters are granted a waiver on tax penalties prescribed by the new tax law.
For the AIRS Chairman, residents should pay their taxes and hold the government accountable. “Pay the tax and hold the government accountable,” he said, expressing confidence in meeting the government’s target, while calling on Ndi Anambra to join hands and change the culture of non-compliance. “Let’s change the culture. For me, I am looking at the numbers every day,” Ikeazor said.
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